Library of Heaven's Path

"I don't want to marry that Zhang Xuan! All he does is to humblebrag his strength and crush the confidence of others. Furthermore, he even rejected the little princess of the Luo Clan publicly, not paying any considerations for the other party's dignity at all!" Jiang Feifei harrumphed furiously.

"..." Zhang Xuan's complexion darkened.

I humblebragged? I crushed the confidence of others?

Please! I am already incredibly low profile, alright? Otherwise, I would have overshadowed all of you so much that none of you will be able to see the light of the day!

Furthermore, what rights do you have to be complaining about me? You are speaking as if I'm interested in marrying you!

You wish!

"If that's the case, I guess it'll have to be Luo Tianya then. It might be difficult on you though. I heard that he has quite an old appearance despite his relatively young age, and his facial features look as if someone has smashed the door in his face. Furthermore, it seems like he's already attached!" Jiang Fangyou said.

"..." Zhang Xuan nearly exploded on the spot.

Are you saying I'm ugly?

Ugly your head! You are the one who is ugly, your entire family is ugly!

My Luo Tianya might not be dashing, but he's at least decent-looking!

"I refuse to marry anyone!" Hearing that Luo Tianya was already attached, Jiang Feifei could feel her final string of sanity being pulled taut, on the verge of snapping at any moment.

"If you don't want to marry anyone, you'll have no choice but to comprehend the Soul Quintessence. Feifei, I don't want to force you into anything, but for the Jiang Clan, I have no other choice either…" Seeing that his threat was working, Jiang Fangyou sighed deeply and said.

"... I understand!"

Jiang Feifei could tell that her father was intentionally trying to scare her, but there was some truth in what he was saying. If someone in the main family was unable to pull her weight, the greatest way she could contribute to the clan was through a political marriage.

"In order not to marry that Zhang Xuan, I'll have to give it my all then…" Jiang Feifei clenched her jaws tightly together.

"..." Zhang Xuan had no idea what to make of the situation anymore.

Am I that detestable? In order not to marry me, you are going to set your mind to cultivating as hard as you can… Is my reputation that bad?

"Alright, go on!" Jiang Fangyou ushered her into the treasure vault.

With a look reminiscent of a soldier marching to her death, Jiang Feifei walked up to the treasure vault and used a unique token to release the seal.

That's the grade-9 pinnacle Ether Ascension Concealing Dragon Formation! Zhang Xuan thought.

Dragons were known for their ability to adapt their situation flexibly. Large, they could devastate. Small, they could ambush. Ascend, they could soar beyond the atmosphere. Conceal, they could mask themselves amidst spatial ripples.

For this reason, dragons were extremely difficult beings to deal with. This was the rationale behind the naming of the formation as well.

To use such an advanced formation to seal the treasure vault, it seemed like there was plenty of good stuff inside.

"You can only rely on yourself to comprehend the Soul Quintessence. May the heavens bless you so that you'll be able to reach a height that few in the Jiang Clan has ever reached before… Otherwise, I'll really have no choice but to betroth you to Zhang Xuan!" Jiang Fangyou gazed quietly as his daughter's silhouette disappeared into the treasure vault before shaking his head and leaving the area.

"The heck!" Not expecting to receive another insult in such a roundabout manner, Zhang Xuan felt completely stifled.

Forget it! Let me head in to see what treasures there are inside… They should have known that retribution would come to them when they chose to betray mankind! Tossing aside the unhappiness bottled in his heart, Zhang Xuan walked warily over to the treasure vault.

If he didn't know what the formation was, he might have still required the help of the Library of Heaven's Path. However, he had already seen through the nature of the formation earlier when Jiang Feifei entered. Thus, with just his Eye of Insight and deep understanding of formations, he could slip past the formation easily and enter the treasure vault.

He casually walked around the perimeter of the treasure vault and kicked a few points here and there. After which, he made his way to the area where Jiang Feifei had entered the treasure vault from and walked into the premises too.

As soon as he entered the treasure vault, he activated his spatial prowess to seal the space around him, thus preventing others from sensing his presence.

Jiang Feifei had just entered the premises not too long ago, and he had no intentions of having a 'touching reunion' with her inside.

For one, it would reflect badly on him and the Zhang Clan if he were to be found sneaking into the treasure vault of another major power, especially since the treachery of the Jiang Clan wasn't revealed yet. Besides, he wouldn't want to alarm the Jiang Clan either.

Unlike the treasure vault of the Luo Clan, where artifacts seemed to be randomly scattered around the area, Zhang Xuan found himself standing in the midst of a vast hall. At the very center of the room was a jade wall which spanned roughly several dozen meters in length.

He couldn't tell exactly what kind of jade material the wall was made of, but it had a smooth and glistening appearance. Vaguely, he felt spiritual energy pulsating within the jade wall.

Jiang Feifei, who had entered a few minutes ahead of him, was standing roughly ten meters away from the jade wall, staring at the jade wall intently. Her body was trembling non-stop, and cold sweat was pouring down her forehead.

There was a massive character inscribed on the jade wall, and it induced an indescribable sensation within one. Just by glancing at the jade wall, Zhang Xuan felt a powerful attraction force drawing his Primordial Spirit in. At the same time, the jade wall was emanating immense pressure, threatening to dissipate one's Primordial Spirit.

It's the hieroglyph of the soul oracles… Zhang Xuan narrowed his eyes coldly.

It would have been nigh impossible for ordinary cultivators to recognize the massive character inscribed on the jade wall, but having inherited the heritage of the soul oracles, he knew that the character was inscribed using the unique hieroglyph of the soul oracles—'Soul'!

As a crucial aspect of the heritage of the soul oracles, this hieroglyph harnessed great power over souls.

The hieroglyph seems to harness the method to comprehending the Soul Quintessence. It's probably left behind by the founder of the Jiang Clan! Zhang Xuan nodded in realization.

It was no wonder why Jiang Fangyou had brought his daughter here to comprehend the Soul Quintessence. The pressure of the hieroglyph would allow one to temper one's soul, and its conception was important in comprehending the Soul Quintessence. In a sense, it had a similar purpose to the '剑 (Sword)' character on the wall of the Zhang Clan.

I'll just leave her to do whatever she wants here. Meanwhile, I'll head to the upper floors to take a look…

Zhang Xuan had already compiled the books relating to the Soul Quintessence into a Heaven's Path manual. He was just too busy trying to raise his soul cultivation that he didn't have the time to cultivate it earlier… While the pressure coming from the jade wall would be hard for most cultivators to bear, something of this extent wasn't enough to faze him anymore.

Besides, his purpose here was not to cultivate but to find suitable cultivation resources to support his soul cultivation. He didn't have the leisure to be wasting time here.

The layout of the second floor was vastly different from the first floor. Many shelves were placed in neat rows in the room, and countless treasures were placed neatly on them.

It seems like the wealth of the Jiang Clan doesn't pale in comparison to the Luo Clan at all! Zhang Xuan chuckled softly as he looked at the treasures laid before him with glowing eyes.

Since he had already gone through the trouble to make his way in here, he wouldn't hold back with the Jiang Clan.

Without any regards to whether they were valuable or not, Zhang Xuan extended his Spiritual Perception across all of the shelves on the second floor.

Keep!

Hula!

All of the treasures on this floor were kept into his storage ring.

With a gleeful smile, Zhang Xuan skipped his way joyfully up to the third floor.

Were it to be any other power, no matter how much the treasures they had moved him, he would have made sure to hold himself back. After all, he was a master teacher. He had his own dignity and pride to uphold!

Well… it was a different story regarding books. What was the use of knowledge if it was just going to be kept in a musky library, not effectively utilized to bring prosperity to the world? Besides, he had only compiled copies of them in the Library of Heaven's Path; it was not as if he had taken the physical copy of the books! So, it couldn't be considered as stealing… Probably…

However, it was a different thing if he were to take their material possession!

That was an act frowned upon by all master teachers worldwide!

However, it would be a different matter if the person he was stealing from was a traitor of mankind. That would be equivalent to depriving the enemies of their resources, and it was considered as a heroic deed.

The treasures on the third floor were clearly much more valuable than those on the second floor. Zhang Xuan swiftly swept them into his storage ring before heading up.

The same happened for the fourth floor, the fifth floor, the sixth floor…

Very soon, he arrived at the highest floor—the ninth floor.

Compared to the floors beneath, the ninth floor appeared particularly empty. There was nothing except for a stone platform roughly half a chi wide, and a seal floating directly above of it.

Zhang Xuan couldn't discern what the seal was, but its very presence exerted tremendous pressure on his Primordial Spirit. He tried to approach the seal, but the incredible pressure halted him in his footsteps.

"What is this seal?" A perplexed frown sat on Zhang Xuan's forehead.

Having advanced his soul cultivation to Great Sage 1-dan Introspective Convalescence realm, ordinary soul offense shouldn't be able to faze him anymore. Yet, the seal before him was actually able to leave him with a suffocating sensation in his chest… Without a doubt, the seal was no ordinary artifact!

Zhang Xuan circled around the stone platform when something suddenly caught his eye.

Hm? There seem to be some words inscribed here…~16cm